


Here with You

by The_Disaster_Tiefling



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, M/M, Memories, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-03
Updated: 2018-05-03
Packaged: 2019-05-01 19:35:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14527674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Disaster_Tiefling/pseuds/The_Disaster_Tiefling
Summary: It was a terrible plan from the start, but it was the only one they had. Fortunately Molly and Caleb were together, and that might just be enough in the face of a situation that brings the past pressing in on them.





	Here with You

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Mik, thank you so much for the KoFi!!

    This was undoubtedly one of the best, and worst ideas that they’d had in a while, Molly thought as he glanced at the walls around him with no small amount of queasiness. They were too close, too dark, dirt and damp trickling down the brickwork, it was too much like… _No,_ he jerked his head back, using the sharp pain that came from the collision with the wall to force his thoughts away from another prison. Another dark hole. It didn’t work, his breath seizing for a moment, heart hammering in his chest as his tail swished from side to side. _Dark. Close. Emp…._ He snarled, cutting off that last thought, refusing to let it take hold.

_You are Mollymauk Tealeaf, and I am satisfied._

    Caleb’s words grounded him, and he took a deep, shuddering breath before his eyes darted to the cell next to his as he realised there hadn’t been a single sound or movement in response to his panic, and he knew that he hadn’t been quiet, gulping breaths and the whimpers that he was never able to stifle. “Caleb?” He whispered, shooting a nervous glance towards the guard that he could see standing watch at the far end of the row. They had been brought in separately, and the success of their plan depended on them being seen as separate, but it didn’t stop the concern that bubbled up when there was still no sign of life from his partner. “Caleb!” It was a hiss this time, worry bleeding into his voice as he inched closer, glad for his dark-vision as he sought out the figure huddled in the far corner of the cell.

Huddled.

Small.

     It lit a protective fire in his chest, reminded him of that night in inn when Caleb had tried to hide away from his past, from the memories…from them. He closed the rest of the distance, fingers curling tightly around the bars separating him from the wizard. “Caleb, can you answer me?” _Please,_ he needed Caleb to reply, needed to hear his voice, not just to reassure him that the human was here with him in the present. _Please, don’t leave me alone in here…._

   The silence threatened to continue, and he was pressing himself against the bar, rattling his horns of them as he considered how he was going to get to Caleb if he didn’t reply, where there was finally a reply, barely audible even though he had immediately replied.

“J-Ja…” Even if the shaky tone hadn’t alerted him to the fact that something was wrong, the slip into Zemnian was flashing warning bells in his head. Caleb tended to slip when he was excited about something, usually magic or books, or when he was scared or haunted, and Molly had a feeling that it wasn’t the former, considering their current location, and the worry became uneasiness with settled like a leaden weight in the pit of his stomach.

“Hey.” Guards and plans be damned. Molly dropped his voice, searching for the soft, soothing tone he used whenever the past rose and threatened to pull his partner under, but there was no removing the edge from his voice, or the tremor in his hands as he gripped the bars, quashing his own memories and fears.   “Look at me.” Caleb shook his head, the refusal hurting for a moment, before concern overwhelmed the hurt and his eyes narrowed as he studied the huddled figure. What was wrong with him? Had he been injured when he was captured? The guards who’d caught Molly hadn’t been what he could call gentle, but they had seemed eager to leave nothing more than bruises, whether for fear of the repercussions or because they wanted to make use of him. “Caleb?” He didn’t have his swords, and he was no match for Jester’s strength and he had no idea how he was going to get to Caleb if he didn’t reply, but after a moment, Caleb’s head rose and turned in his direction. “There you are.” It was hard to keep his voice lilting and soft, because Caleb wasn’t there, not really.

     There was a distance in the blue eyes that reminded him painfully of that night after the Manticore, and he aches to reach out and pull Caleb close, to press his lips to his forehead and draw him back to the present, but the bars stop him, and he growled low in his throat. The noise seemed to reach Caleb, haunted blue eyes blinking heavily, his gaze slowly focusing on Molly and there was a glimpse of the man beneath, before worry bled into their depths.

“Molly…” Caleb whispered, eyes darting towards the guard and then to where Molly was clinging to the bars, staring at him with too much concern to be a stranger and he could see the gears beginning to turn.

“Come here.” He didn’t care about being caught, about blowing their hopes of investigating what was happening to the unfortunate souls that had disappeared into this prison. He wanted, needed to be able to touch Caleb, to ground them both in the present, to chase away the nightmares pressing in with the dark walls. Caleb hesitated, shoulders hunching, still unused to the fact that he could reach out and find someone reaching back, still fearful that he would reach out one time and find himself alone once more. “Caleb, come to me sweetheart,” Molly crooned, hating the fact that those doubts still existed even after how far they had come, burying it beneath an encouraging smile, meeting blue eyes when they flickered back to him.

It’s enough…

     Caleb is moving, not without frequent glances around the cell and towards the guard, but he’s inching closer and as soon as he’s within range Molly is reaching for him. The bars are in the way, cold and uncomfortable against his skin as he presses into them, fingers finding purchase in Caleb’s coat as he draws the wizard closer. It’s awkward, nothing like the easy way they usually fit together first thing in the morning when Caleb will hold him, coaxing him back to consciousness, easing the fear that comes from emerging from the darkness of his dreams. It’s different from the way Molly likes to curl around Caleb late at night, pressing as close as possible, until its impossible to tell where he ends, and Caleb begins, but right now its all they have, and some of the pressure in Molly’s chest eases from having Caleb close once more.

      Caleb is trembling whether from cold, fear or the memories, Molly doesn’t know, but he moulds himself against the bars, leaning into the Tiefling as best as he could and clutching at the arms now snaked around him. It’s not enough to ease the tremors completely, just as having Caleb close isn’t quite enough to chase away the memories, or the feeling of the walls closing in around him, but it helps, and he closes his eyes as he leans into the bars. He wishes that he could get closer, that he could bury his head into the crook of Caleb’s neck and drown himself in everything that is the human, but he can’t and for now he will take what he can get, letting his fingers play up Caleb’s arms, drawing soothing patterns through the material. “Are you with me?”

“Ja…” Trembling fingers find his, curling around them. It reassures him more than the words can, because it means that his Caleb, the one who has blossomed in the group and with him, is there with him right now. “I’m here…” His voice is stronger this time, more himself. More present, and its enough to get Molly to open his eyes and peer at him just as Caleb tilts his head to look at him, lips twisting in a weak attempt at a smile. “This was a terrible idea…” Molly can’t stop himself from snorting.

    It’s not funny, not really, just as it hadn’t been when they’d realised that they were the best two for this part of the mission. Caleb who’d already spent time inside prison, and absolutely refused to risk Nott inside a place like this, especially after a guard had spotted her and very nearly taken her head off before Beau had intervened, and Mollymauk whose appearance was enough to draw suspicious stares even when he was on his best behaviour. They’d known it was a bad idea…known that Molly couldn’t stand small spaces after what had happened to him, known that Caleb who wasn’t the coward he so often proclaimed himself to be was still deathly afraid of prison and whatever had happened to him in the past. However, it had been the only way to break through the wall of silence and secrets that had obscured all other efforts to find the truth. It had been the only way, but it didn’t change the fact that it was a terrible idea, and Molly hated it, all humour vanishing as he muttered under his breath. “I know.” He’s so caught up in his thoughts about just how much of mess this is, and how much worse it still might get that he almost misses the next words.

“I’m glad you’re here.”

     He considers pretending that he hadn’t caught them, the emotion behind them too raw, the trembling intensifying again. But, he knows that’s what Caleb expects, even now…and its more than that, even if he only admits it to himself as he glances uneasily at the walls, they’re still looming, still to close and dark, but bearable because he’s not alone. They’re far from safe, this is still a terrible idea, but it’s a little less awful for the man in his arms, the warmth of their tangled fingers, and the shared, unspoken, _I need you…_

“Me too.” It’s rawer than he intended, but he can’t, won’t take it back, his fingers tightening around Caleb’s as some of his earlier panic bleeds through. “Stay with me…” Is it selfish of him to ask whilst Caleb is clearly teetering on a precipice of his own? Possibly, probably…he’s not sure, all that he knows that this is a terrible idea and the walls are waiting to close in on him, and that Caleb is the only thing holding him here, just as he’s the one grounding the wizard.

“Always…”


End file.
